Trump: $1.5T infrastructure plan may be passed in ‘a series of measures’

March 29 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested his $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan could be passed through a series of measures.

Addressing the International Union of Operating Engineers in Richfield, Ohio, Trump said he is willing to adopt a piecemeal approach to passing the package which calls for the repair and replacement of some U.S. highways, bridges and airports by committing $200 billion in federal funding over the next decade.

“It can be passed in one bill, or in a series of measures,” he said. “What matters, is that we get the job done.”

Grants to secure local and private funding account for $100 billion of the plan, and another $50 billion will be spent on rural needs, to be determined by each state. Another $20 billion is reserved for what the administration calls “technical assistance for bold, innovative, and transformative” measures intended to dramatically improve the national infrastructure.

“We will transform our roads and bridges from a source of endless frustration into a source of absolutely incredible pride,” Trump said. “There is no better place to begin this campaign than right here in Ohio, at this state-of-the-art training site — they’ve done a fantastic job right in this building — where the awesome skills of the American worker are forged and refined.”

Trump’s plan notably shifts much of the financial burden, normally assumed by the federal government, onto state and local governments, and private investors.

He said it might not be possible to have the infrastructure proposals become law before the midterm elections.

“I’ve asked Republicans and Democrats in Congress to come together and deliver the biggest and boldest infrastructure plan in the last half-century,” Trump said. “I don’t think you’re going to get Democrat support very much. And you’ll probably have to wait until after the election, which isn’t so long down the road. But we’re going to get this infrastructure going.”

Trump also encouraged Republicans not to become “complacent” during the upcoming elections.

“We have a very important election coming up, and they don’t like the wins we’ve been getting,” he said referring to Democrats. “They don’t like that the economy is so strong. They don’t like that they don’t have one vote on the tax cuts. Not one vote.”